<p>Ok, so I have one week to send in my deposit, and I have no idea which school I’m going to choose! My options are Barnard, NYU (CAS), and Rutgers (Arts and Sciences, Business, Pharmacy, Environmental and Biological Sciences). I’d like to focus this thread on Barnard vs NYU, not Rutgers, however.</p>
<p>Barnard will cost me $30,000 a year ($26,000 grant) and NYU will cost me $36,000 a year ($20,000 scholarship). I’m not extremely well off, or anything, so finances are definitely something to consider. </p>
<p>I plan on majoring in Economics, but doing pre-med as well. </p>
<p>PLEASE, any and all advice on what to do is welcome, I’m really confused, so please help!</p>
<p>You don’t really give us enough to go on. My D chose Barnard, but some students would make the opposite decision. One factor might be that the merit scholarship implies the necessity of keeping up grades but a need based grant doesn’t. That might factor in a bit.</p>
<p>What other information would you need? I’m basically asking to compare which school would be a better choice based on the fact that I would major in Econ and do pre-med at the same time.</p>
<p>Barnard’s financial aid is need based, so if Barnard tuition goes up in future years – and your EFC stays the same – then your Barnard grant would go up. The NYU scholarship is probably a fixed amount – though you would have to check with them. Generally college tuitions do go up significantly each year. (On the other hand, if you expect that your EFC might go up substantially in future years, then the reverse consideration will apply – NYU will probably keep giving you the scholarship if you keep up whatever minimum GPA they want, whereas the Barnard grant could go down if you or your parents’ income went up). </p>
<p>As to which is better for your plans – I’d suggest that you use the course catalogs from each to figure out what courses you would have to meet for distribution requirements (called “9 ways of knowing” at Barnard), and the specific requirements for an econ major at each. Pre-med requirements are the same everywhere. Then you will have a better sense of how scheduling might work to meet your needs. </p>
<p>You might also talk to NYU students about whether they ever have issues getting the courses they want. My d. had the impression from talking to NYU students that it could be a problem – but no first hand knowledge. This is not generally a problem at Barnard.</p>
<p>Also Barnard has phenomenal advising. Don’t know about NYU.</p>
<p>Both have good department. The academics at each would get you where you want to go. In general, Barnard’s are more highly regarded, but I don’t think this would matter very much.</p>
<p>The classes will probably be smaller at Barnard which can be an advantage.</p>
<p>Given this choice, if it were me I would pick Barnard.
Cheaper, smaller classes, possibly more intimate.
I am not a fan of NYU’s “no campus” atmosphere for an undergraduate experience,you are virtually a glorified commuter there. The “community” is highly fractured. It is nominally coed, yet a straight female will not find great odds there anyway so this seeming advantage is rather diluted.</p>